An important night for all, but more so for on Sixer tonight! However the first part of the night was taken up completing our Animal and Bird badges that we began on camp. We had managed to get through a lot, but with the noise restrictions and lack of a hall to run around in we had to postpone a couple of games until tonight. Oh and of course, as one of our Cub Scouts put it, sneaky learning… that’s where we teach the Cub Scouts things in a fun way so that they don’t even realise they are learning things until its too late!
So we started the night by talking about bird migration, why birds do this and the risks, and then had a look at several birds that migrate here in Australia and up to mostly Siberia & Alaska.
- Short-tailed Shearwater
- Eastern Curlew
- Sharp-tailed Sandpiper
- Bar-tailed Godwit
- Whimbrel
- Red-necked Stint
We then played the migration game, a sort of board game with 24 squares on the floor each detailing something positive or negative a bird may go through on its migration. Half the Cub Scouts made it through, but the other half died on route showing just how risky the process is. Sorry no photos were taken during the playing of this game.
We then sat down and had a chat about what we had seen on camp, the animals both at the park and those we had seen which were free, and discussed how we felt about Wildlife Parks and Zoos. The general feeling being that modern Zoos were trying to help animals, and it would be great if there didn’t need to be any Zoos and Wildlife parks but at the moment they are needed. For instance we got to see over the weekend an animal previously thought to be extinct, with the help of rangers and wildlife parks there were now 600 living in a protected are in the wild.
We followed this by moving on to a game about Extinct birds, having just talked about what extinction means. In their Sixes the Cub Scouts ran down the hall and collected a bird card, they then had to decide if that bird was extinct or not. If they were not sure there were some fact sheets available to look through and find out.
Working together they got all the birds in to the correct categories.
The very last part of the badge involved finding out about animals that have been introduced to Australia. The Cub Scouts paired off and were each given a fact sheet about an introduced animals and a questionnaire asking when, why and how the animals were introduced and what impact and finally solutions exist to deal with them.
We looked at:
- Cane Toads
- Carp
- Feral Pigs
- Rabbits
- Feral Goats
If you didn’t quite complete that part don’t worry, you can bring it in when we next meet in the hall in 2 weeks time.
With the Animal and Birds badge activities over it was time for our feature presentation, one of our Cub Scouts was to receive his Grey Wolf badge tonight. The Cub Scouts sat down to watch a short movie highlighting his many achievements being one of the few to have the bronze, silver and gold boomerangs too. So many activities and fun nights from the last 3 years were remembered, and it was great to see so many photos of all our Cub Scouts working and playing together.
Then time for parade, where another Cub Scout got his Gold Boomerang, another Grey Wolf soon perhaps…
Before finally the Grey Wolf badge was presented:
Well done, from all of us, we look forward to see you carrying on this success in Scouts over the coming years.
Of course that wasn’t all, because what’s a Grey Wolf presentation without a cake? Luckily there was one at hand!
Thanks as ever to Mrs Eagle for arranging the cake, and the million and one other behind the scenes activities that keeps the group moving forward.
Remember next week we have our swimming night so we will see you all down at the sport centre.
